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Career Trek shows students future career paths
Fourteen-year-old Marquesa Kennington wanted to be an astronaut, but now has her eyes set on becoming a pastry chef.
As a graduate of Career Trek, a not-for-profit organization that provides participants as young as ten experience in careers and their link to post-secondary education, Kennington has learned about 80 careers in 17 different fields in Career Trek's Phase 1 Program and Phase 2 Project.
After finishing the Phase 1 Program based in the University of Manitoba, University of Winnipeg and Red River College, Kennington says that she had a clearer sense of what she wanted to pursue in the future.
"I learned that I had a lot more potential to be in that kind of work genre," says Kennington.
This prompted Kennington to attend Career Trek's Culinary Arts Phase 2 Project where she honed her baking skills and worked directly with industry professionals.
Her stepfather, Darnley Niles, is glad that Kennington had the opportunity to participate in Career Trek. He says that after going through Career Trek's Phase 1 Program, Kennington's ability to work in groups came easier.
"Her shyness kind of went to the wayside and she was able to become more comfortable in a work environment of that nature," says Niles.
Niles, an accountant, even admits that he wishes Career Trek existed when he was deciding what he wanted pursue in his life. "The more responsibilities outside of the academic arena, the less time you have to focus on your academics," says Niles. "This is a wonderful opportunity for them to eat it up."
Darrell Cole, Executive Director, Career Trek, says that the organization strives to assist students in answering that age-old question, "What do you want to be when you grow up?" By giving students experience in careers and their link to post-secondary education, Cole says that students will come away with a clearer sense of what they like and don't like and what they want to pursue in the future. With five programs spanning Manitoba, Career Trek provides programming for all ages.
"On a scale of one to ten, one meaning there's no need for it and ten meaning definitely, I would say an 11 because the kids have so many choices to make in their early lives, and they become bombarded with other stuff and they are not aware of what is out there that they might enjoy to pick up as a profession," says Niles. "This definitely gets their feet wet for the real world."
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